A head-on crash caused by a wrong-way driver at Route 12 and Russell Drive in Volo left numerous occupants hospitalized with serious injuries on January 21, 2024. | Photo: Joe Shuman/J. Shuman Photography (2024)

A driver has been charged after he drove the wrong way on Route 12 in Volo and crashed head-on into another vehicle, leaving a woman critically injured and a man seriously injured.

Mitchell L. Klein, 25, of Fox Lake, was charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing bodily harm and two counts of driving under the influence.

The charges stem from a vehicle crash that occurred around 8:15 p.m. on January 21, 2024, at Route 12 and Russell Drive in Volo.

Lake County sheriff’s deputies arrived to find a head-on crash involving two vehicles with heavy damage near Lurvey Landscape Supply.

A head-on crash caused by a wrong-way driver at Route 12 and Russell Drive in Volo left numerous occupants hospitalized with serious injuries on January 21, 2024. | Photo: Joe Shuman/J. Shuman Photography (2024)

Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said at the time that a Ford Mustang was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of Route 12.

The Ford, driven by Klein, struck a southbound Mitsubishi Outlander head-on. Klein suffered serious injuries.

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The driver of the Mitsubishi, a 36-year-old Deerfield woman, suffered critical injuries consisting of a fractured spine and brain bleeding, Covelli said.

A front-seat passenger in the Ford, a 23-year-old man who was not wearing his seat belt, suffered significant injuries, Covelli said. He was unable to feel his legs.

Firefighters had to extricate the three victims involved from their vehicles.

A head-on crash caused by a wrong-way driver at Route 12 and Russell Drive in Volo left numerous occupants hospitalized with serious injuries on January 21, 2024. | Photo: Joe Shuman/J. Shuman Photography (2024)

The two drivers and the passenger were transported to area hospitals by ambulance.

Covelli said an open container of alcohol was located in the Ford and impairment was a factor in the crash.

Klein was first initially charged in March with misdemeanor driving under the influence and also issued traffic citations.

The case was upgraded this month to a felony following an investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.

Klein is scheduled to appear in court for a First Appearance hearing on Monday morning.

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